Weirdest thing of all is that nobody, neither the sculptor nor anybody at the company seems to have bothered to take a look at their old set or the box art for the old set ... Someboy needs a break or a new set of glasses ... At the same time they are still capable of making excellent sets for a lot of other periods. It's as if there are two completely seperate departments at work ... Strange.

I'm inclined to find the silver lining in any cloud. These figures are clearly completely wrong for the Crimean War, the small feather bonnets being the most obvious mistake. However, for a Napoleonic diorama maker such as myself, these figures are terrific for Waterloo and the shotgun style weapons can be adjusted without much effort. The thin covering of Ostrich feathers on the bonnet might be more appropriate for Alexandria in 1800 than Waterloo in 1815, but I can live with that. It would be better if Strelets had a quality control mechanism to pick up mistakes, but the situation is not terminal.

Yes we have said with work they could pass for Napoleonic highlanders, what with removing the sporrans. I personally didnt find these muskets quite so bad as the ones in the British firing line set. The fitted bayonets make a big difference also.
Problem is, they are not being sold seperately. If you did want them for Napoleonic era usage, not only do you have scalpel work ahead of you (not ideal if the customer is a child), but you also get all those other Crimean era figures you dont need in the box.

Not terminal mistakes? Isolated on their own.....no.
But the mistakes keep adding up, are getting bigger and more serious......not a good thing for a companys long term reputation.

Many recent Napoleonic sets and now this Crimean one, have got some sort of issue that the customer needs to sort out, from finding new horses, to trying to glue on or chop bits off. We seem to have to try to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear for an increasing amount of sets.

We do not yet know whether they'll eventually be sold seperately as well as in the "big box" set. With the old set they were available in both versions, so there may still be hope for Napoleonic collectors. In the original set only the Turks were new and available just in this box. At a quick glance they seem to be the same as in the old set, but I haven't compared them figure by figure. I think Strelets might be well advised to sell the new Highlanders in a seperate box as well.

To "save" the set, selling them seperately would be best, I agree Flambeau. So far, I have only seen them associated with this big box, rather than a stand alone set.

However, sales I think will still be affected by whether a Napoleonic modeller wants to go about knife work on those sporrans. Like I said before, it could leave a horrid flat spot on the kilts. Its just a disaster all round really. And was very easily avoidable.
Thing is, not every customer out there is going to be someone skilled at conversions or modifications. We really do need to remember that.
Also when having discussed about why not many younger people want to get involved in the hobby.....young kids and scalpels?? How many parents would be happy with that idea this day & age?!!!

Its also these sort of issues that make the difference in someone wanting to buy multiple boxes (=:moneybag: :moneybag: :grinning: ), or just a couple if not just the one box (=:money_with_wings: :sob: ).
Same with that British firing line set etc. If they are ready, straight out the box, then someone would be happy to buy a good many boxes. But with the issue of needing to make modifications, that will put people off. Only so many fiddly jobs or knife work someone will want to do. And only some customers will be prepared to do it.
And if it keeps happening in more and more sets.......

Pretty much. While not obligatory, the shaving regulations were suspended once the army was ashore - to the disgust of most senior officers - so any soldier mature enough to grow a beard did so. It is so much better to have the facial hair sculpted because it never looks right just painted on, in my experience.

Really with a conflict so extensively photographed there is no excuse for this type of mistake

Hmm, I was pretty good using a razorblade for conversions when I was twelve ... well maybe fourteen :slightly_smiling_face: and I really didn't care much about historical accuracy when I was younger (I wouldn't have bought a single Airfix French artillery set if I had ...) and I actually did use Airfix British AWI Grenadiers as French Old Guard and the Roman Fort as a Hougoumont subsitute ... so don't worry too much about the kids, Roger, they'll probably buy GW or Perry minis anyway (I'd have done it for sure had they been available back then ... well, depending on the price). But I can sympathize with the somewhat exasperated feelings of anybody with Napoleonics the centre of the collection.

I too was able to use more "adult" tools as a kid. To start with under supervision, and then on my own. These days however, I doubt many parents would allow it. Many wouldnt even see the sense in model making now, let alone help!!!

Either way, leaving the historical accuracy stuff aside, there are still many reasons why a set of figures needs to be correct, straight out of the box. Those of us who are more capable with mods/conversions can do whatever we need to do. But there are potential customers out there, young and even old, who just are not capable and such mistakes as we are seeing, will affect whether they buy a set or not. Some of us thoroughly enjoy performing "Dr Frankenstein" acts on our figures, but some out there just want to be able to start painting. We need to remember these other people within the hobby, when simply suggesting a set can be modified like it is an easy thing to every single customer out there.

I am one, like a good few on here, who can indeed modify figures, but even so, that doesnt mean I want to be doing it just for the sake of it. Doubt I am the only one either. Me and I am sure others would rather save such work for the many units not yet (or ever) available in plastic, which if we want them, we have to get creative.

Well....



I suspect that these Highlanders are posing well away from the battle-front. They look very uniform and clean. Two have beards, one does not. They all have impressive sporrans and the photo has good detail of the jacket and the pack. The bonnets are large and imposing. All very impressive.

Do we deduce that 60% or more of the highlanders were bearded? I'm sticking with my old Strelets Crimean Highlanders for my 'Thin Red Line'. The new ones have their place, but it is on the slopes of Mont St Jean in June 1815.

Yes I think if I wanted more Crimean highlanders, I would look for any boxes of the older set.
The uniform issues (bonnet etc) to me are a bigger error than the facial hair, although big beards and moustaches were obviously part of the times then, so at least a good few of the figures should have it. I might be wrong but I think there were some poses in the older set who had just a moustache instead of a full beard.

Thinking about it, if any of you have any of the older Strelets Crimean Highlanders unpainted and still on their sprues with their box, that you dont want obviously, you might make a good profit on ebay soon!!!

Isn't it odd how facial hair defines an era? From the 1690s until the 1830s no self respecting English gentleman would have been seen dead with a beard or a moustache. Soldiers had to be clean shaven, unlike their French opponents who encouraged moustaches in elite units such as Grenadiers and Hussars (although interestingly moustaches were banned in the Horse Grenadiers of the Guard).

Beards became fashionable in the Victorian era. In the 1880s beards went out but everyone had a moustache. Moustaches got smaller in the 20th Century until John F Kennedy and Prince Philip made them unfashionable. The Napoleonic Royal Navy did not allow beards, but as with the Army the Victorian Navy allowed beards but when the Army banned beards in the 1880s the Navy continues to this day to allow them. Strangely, moustaches are not allowed in the Navy. The RAF allowed moustaches not beards until, controversially, this was changed a couple of years ago.

Thats very true, and it is indeed interesting how the different parts of the armed forces apply regulations on it over time.
I would say as well as facial hair/hairstyles, even uniforms of the past have had been influenced by fashion of the time. WSS a case in point... those curly wigs and big coats were all part of civilian society of the time.
Then you have modern military units having some form of camo pattern. The styles used between the nations is quite interesting with the various patterns used. Of course as time goes by, these camo patterns too are subject to change.

But I suppose all fashion changes over time, or makes a comeback later. I have seen some teenagers (& a few adults!) recently sporting hairstyles last seen in the 80s!!!

Not sure why everyone is in a lather over these - they are obviously Napoleonic highlanders in a firing line, and are fully accurate as such. I think the "Thin Red Line" reference is just some misdirection from Strelets.

Well, almost...not the sporrans though, and not the Enfield (?) rifled muskets either. But 90% there as Napoleonic Highlanders.

Lather? Facial hair? Shaving....subtle, but amusing.:grinning:

Well seeing as Strelets has attached the pictures of the masters of these highlanders on their "Thin Red Line" set listing on the main page, I think that actually they were meant to be Crimean.....unless there has been a huge admin foul up? As we have said, one way or another the set has been messed up.

Fully accurate for Napoleonics......get rid of the sporrans than practically yes.
With the muskets, its hard to tell whether they are meant to be the Napoleonic brown bess, or some later model, as these are not the best sculpted.

I just hopr that the other Crimean War Infantry sets that Strelets are
planning to retool are going to be better than this one.